Promise Me (22 page)

GRAYSON

Gray looked dubiously at the karaoke machine as Brandon dragged it into Riverbottom. 

“Who the hell is gonna use that thing?
  I mean, without sounding like a slowly tortured cat?”

Brandon looked insulted.  “I can.” 

Maddox guffawed.  “Bull fucking shit.” 

“Fuck you, Mad.” 

Maddox took his sweaty shirt off and climbed up on a rickety chair to hang some silver streamers.  “Don’t overestimate yourself, B.  Never works out well.” 

“I’ll show all you fuckers,” Brandon muttered as he fiddled with the machine. 

“Gray!”  Rachel called from the door.  “She’s here!”

Kira clapped her hands and looked down at her sequined dress.  “This is so much fucking fun!” 

Orion had been napping on one of the tables.  At the sound of Kira’s voice he raised his head and grunted blearily. 

“What the fuck are we doing again?”

Grayson went outside to meet her.  Promise had started her job at the clinic in Parker this week.  She was driving around in Rachel’s car for the time being, until there was enough money to get something else. 

Her smile, when she saw him, was brilliant as always.  Too much had been weighing on her these days.  Alice Carter’s work exposing the Freedom Cooperative had shaken some branches, even caused a cleaving down the trunk as all the private money which had attached itself, however obliquely, to that business was abandoning it in droves.  The press was merciless.
More women and girls began to come forward with awful stories. Winston Allred’s name was intricately tangled with the schemes of the Freedom Cooperative.  He was the first to be arrested.

Thus far, more than a hundred women and their children had left Jericho Valley.  Alice was working with many of them, helping them get resettled in Phoenix.

And then yesterday came the news.  John and Aston Talbot, Promise’s father and uncle, had both been arrested.  The list of charges was long.  Fraud, child endangerment, assault.

Jenny was thriving in her new surroundings.  Grayson and Promise were driving out
to San Diego in the morning to visit her.  But first he wanted to give his girl, the love of his life, something else.  Something she had mentioned sleepily one night and then probably forgot about.   

She jumped on him and he spun her around as she laughed.  When he put her down she tried to go into the bar but he held her back. 

“What are you up to?” she asked, her green eyes twinkling. 

“Just a minute,” he said, peeking inside.  Rachel gave him the thumbs up.  “Okay, now.” 

She gasped as she walked in and turned to him in astonishment.  “What?”

Kira and Rachel were both dressed to the nines.  Rachel held out a lovely silver gown which matched the decorative streamers Maddox had grudgingly stapled to the ceiling. 

Promise was still blinking at everything in confusion.

Gray kissed her cheek and grabbed a small box which had been waiting on a nearby table.  “You regret missing high school,” he told her, taking the corsage out and sliding it on her small wrist.  “So this is your prom.” 

She stared at him for a moment and he wondered if she was embarrassed.  But then she looked down at her corsage and softly fingered the white petals. 

“Wow,” she whispered. 

Rachel hustled her into the office to change into the silver dress while Brandon cursed and kicked the karaoke machine. 

“Told you not t
o fuck with that thing,” Maddox laughed. 

While Gray waited for her, Teague wandered in.  He took one look at the silvery bedlam, said “Fuck this,” and left in a huff. 

The door to the office opened and she was beautiful.  But then, she was always beautiful.  As she melted into his arms he resolved not to let in the ugliness tonight.  There would be no Faithful, no grim tales of abuse and corruption.  There would be only the two of them. 

Brandon finally got the machine running.  Everyone in the room paused and gaped at him when he
launched into a song.  He had a smooth, melodic voice which instinctively knew when to draw out for maximum effect.  Brandon smiled underneath his beard, clearly enjoying the surprise. 

Grayson walked over and whispered something in his ear.  Brandon thought for a moment and then slowly nodded.  When he finished his song he searched the machine menu for a few minutes until he found the one he wanted. 

“What song is this?” she asked as her arms went around his shoulders. 

He smiled at her as his arms went around her waist.  “It’s an oldie.  From way back in the fifties.  It’s timeless though, this song.  Called
Earth Angel.
”  He pulled her in closer, feeling emotional.  “Because, baby, you’re my angel.” 

She closed her eyes and rested her cheek against his chest.  He wondered if she often thought about their first dance together. It was the first moment he’d truly held her in his arms and realized that she felt about him the same way he felt about her. The moment when he understood how they fit
together like two lost pieces of a puzzle. 

He was vaguely aware that Rachel and Casper were dancing beside them, absorbed in their own story.  Kira loudly complained until she coaxed Orion to his feet but when he got there he held fast to her. 

“Gray,” Promise sighed. 

“I know,” he kissed her.  “Me too.” 

She shifted slightly, looking up at him and touching his face. 

“It’ll always be like this,” she said. 

“It will,” he agreed, tightening his hold on her until she could feel all of him.  “I promise.” 

From the author:
  This novel was an emotional journey as the story tackled some weighty subjects which I struggled to handle with sensitivity. 

I hope someone out there enjoyed it. 

By the way, I sincerely love to hear from readers so drop me a line if you want to say hello. 

[email protected]

Also by Cora Brent:

Know Me: A Novella

As the daughter of the Coast Devils MC President, Kira Tolleson was raised around dangerous men. But her father, Crest Tolleson, always took pains to keep Kira out of the violent chaos surrounding the club.
When a rival gang massacres the Coast Devils, including Kira’s father, she knows their brutality will not spare her if she is found.
In desperation Kira flees to the Arizona desert to find the one man who might help her.
His name is Orion. As leader of the Defiant MC, he is tough, explosive, unbearably sexy.
And once, he was her father’s best friend.
Confronted by the innocent young woman he’d known since the day she was born, Orion agrees to take her in.
That is, if Kira is willing to meet his terms.

Reckless Point

Angela Durant always chafed under the limitations of Cross Point Village, her fading New England hometown. After getting out and finding success in the Boston business world, she had become used to taking the safe roads in life.
Until now.
Jolted when her boyfriend betrays her for something skinner in humiliating fashion, Angela retreats to Cross Point for a long summer weekend.
That’s where she connects with Marco, the biker bad boy from high school yesteryear.
Sexy, volatile and utterly uninterested in playing anything ‘safe’, Marco is intent on getting curvy Angela to loosen her inhibitions.
But reckless desire has consequences.
And what began as casual lust can turn deep and complicated.
There, in the heart of everything she always wanted to escape, Angela might find the life she never knew she’d always been searching for…

***

The dessert
recipes referred to in Chapter Twenty were culled from my personal collection of antique handwritten recipes.  I do not know who wrote them down or where they originally came from, but here they are nonetheless:

Dead Man’s Bones

1 Cup White Flour

3 Egg Whites

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Cup Sliced Almonds

1 Cup Granulated Sugar

Dash of salt

Beat the egg whites stiffly. 

Add sugar gradually and beat with enthusiasm. 

Using a fork, fold in the flour and salt. 

Slowly add almonds. 

Pour in vanilla.

Drop by teaspoonful onto oiled cookie sheet.

Bake at 300 Degrees until cookies are a rich cream color. 

Cherry Nut Cake

1 Cup Sugar

1 Egg

2 Tbsp Melted Shortening

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Canned Cherries

1 tsp baking soda

½ Cup Walnuts

Dash of Nutmeg

Mix all ingredients. 

Pour in greased 9x9 pan. 

Bake at 325 Degrees for 45 Minutes

Cherry Sauce

1 Cup Sugar

½ Tbsp Cornstarch

1 tsp Butter

1 Cup Cherry Juice

½ Cup Water

½ tsp vanilla

¼ tsp almond extract

Blend all ingredients in sauce pan.

Cook until clear.

Serve over cake. 

Below is Promise’s Applesauce Cake recipe described in Chapter Twenty Five.  This was a recipe adapted from various sources and I’ve been making it since I was a kid.  I tentatively recall that during the Great Depression, cakes using applesauce as a primary ingredient came into fashion as sugar became increasingly expensive and difficult to acquire.  Their revised descendants remain popular today and delicious as ever. 

Promise’s Applesauce Cake

2 ½ Cups Flour

1 ½ Cups Sweetened Applesauce

2 Cups Sugar

1 ½ tsp Baking Soda

½ tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Allspice

½ tsp Ground Cloves

¾ tsp Cinnamon

1 ½ tsp Salt

½ Cup Softened Butter

½ Cup Water

2 Eggs

1 Cup Raisins (optional*)

*Place raisins in bowl of warm water to plump

Combine dry ingredients and mix well

Add remaining ingredients, except raisins, and mix thoroughly, preferably using an electric mixer but in its absence enthusiastic elbow grease will do

Drain raisins and add to batter

Grease/flour 13x9 cake pan

Pour cake batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes